I Care
by WrittenWithPencils
Summary: "I've never told you about my thoughts on you, have I?" Toborn asked Tom, "I don't think I have..."


**This is just a little one-off that I did for a friend of mine because when I told him about the idea. He told me that he liked it and to top it off, he even gave me a few suggestions and ideas for it, too. It took about three days to finish this thing. Fangirls might enjoy this, but Tom and Tangath Toborn most likely won't. **

**x.x.x**

**I Care. By WrittenWithPencils.**

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''Ugh,'' moaned Tom Majors. He sat at a table with his head held up by his propped elbow as he sipped a juice made of something he didn't know; all he could guess about it was that the juice had been made from an odd red fruit he found in the cabinet. As he drank, he watched the small candle in the lantern on the table flicker away as it melted the wax below it. There wasn't anything to do other than that and it was beginning to bore Tom. He looked out the opened window to see the sun setting as it began to fall behind the buildings of Kiru City.

The teenager felt disappointed. He thought that spending an entire week with Tangath Toborn in the Overworld would be a blast, but his stay so far was much duller than he hoped. He knew that Toborn was a busy creature, but he didn't know that he was so busy that he couldn't at least check in to see how his guest was doing, especially since he forbid him from leaving his home. Ever since being told this, which was just this morning as he woke up from after a tiring night of getting here, he's had to deal with being stuck in this place. At first, he thought that it wouldn't be that bad, but after trying to deal with it, he began to regret lying to his parents that he was spending the week at a friend's house.

Tom could no longer keep his eyes open anymore as they were too heavy to keep up. Knowing that he'd pass out if he tried to stay up any longer, he gulped down the rest of his drink and got up. He dragged himself up the stairs, down the second floor hallway and into the sunlit spare bedroom that he was going to sleep in for the next week. He took off his shoes and let himself fall face first onto the bed. The boy moaned as he repositioned himself so that he was on his back. He slid himself beneath the dark green covers and let his head sink into he pillow as he looked up at the ceiling. He wasn't thinking about too much now. The voice of himself spoke on his head as his eyes began to close and he began to drift away from reality.

_All I can do for now is hope that things will get better._

**x.x.x**

Tom awoke from dreaming to hear the sounds of footsteps and doors slamming outside his room. Having just woken up, the gears in his head weren't exactly cranking yet. He shoved the sounds aside and tried to go back to sleep. Things were quiet again until he heard the sound of his door opening. He shot up with wrinkles and dark circles underneath his wide open eyes and watched as a giggling and humming Tangath Toborn drop his sword at the door and stumble his way inside, not bothering to close the door.

Tom watched as the humanoid lion walked up to the bed and climbed in with him. The Overworld fan got a wake-up call from what Toborn was doing and tried to scoot away. His escape attempt failed when Toborn's muscular arm wrapped itself around his shoulders and pulled him over to him like a mediocre actor being pulled away by a long cane. Tom tried to squirm his way out, but it was no use; Toborn giggled some more as he looked at the boy he held.

''Hello there, Tom. Nice evening, isn't it?'' he asked in a low volume with a grin of his face. As he talked, Tom's nose caught the smell of the officer's breathe. The smell was awful and reminded him of alcohol. Tom didn't know it, nor could he suspect it, but the Overworlder had gotten very drunk before returning home and was very out of it. The out-of-character Toborn giggled once more as he ran his hand through Tom's messy hair.

''Eh, uh, duh,'' Tom quietly babbled.

''What's wrong? You look scared. How come? Since when are you scared of me?'' said Toborn as he sighed, ''Oh, well. So, how were things when I was gone? I would have been back earlier, but... oh,I can't remember...''

''Uhh, fine?'' Tom mumbled.

''Oh, that makes me happy,'' said Toborn, ''I'm going to enjoy having you around for these next six days and nights. If only I could have spent this one with you, but no, Maxxor has to make me do all this work that anyone else can do. I'm sorry that I had to leave you... but don't worry, I'll make it up for you, I promise.''

Toborn stopped stroking Tom's hair, making his friend think that he was done. However, things just got worse for him as he felt another arm sling over to his shoulder and heard him chuckling deeply as he rested his head right next to the boy's ear. Tom had nothing to say as he was at a loss for words. His fingers fidgeted a bit under the covers.

''I've never told you about my thoughts on you, have I?'' Toborn asked Tom, ''I don't think I have... heh... well, here it goes... Thomas, I've always cared for you since we became familiar with each other. Never really showed it or told it to you because whenever we crossed paths, there were others people around and to say that kind of stuff would cause problems for both of us.''

''W-wha? cared for me, uh?'' mumbled a dazed Tom.

''I've always had your back during all the times where we came across each other. Remember that one day when your friends nearly got killed off by those guards but I told them to go away? That's what I mean by caring. Had I not, you might not be here. As for the part where I told you that you couldn't leave, well, that was to keep you out of trouble. Have I ever told you how much danger you get yourself into? I've never seen a Chaotic Player with misfortune like yours. Not that it's a bad thing or anything, don't worry,'' the lion replied.

Tom wasn't exactly getting what Toborn was telling him. Being half-asleep, he wasn't paying too much attention to him as he was in a sleepy state of confusion from being woken up in the middle of the night. Toborn and his rantings weren't helping him understand what was going on. He looked out the open window for a moment, staring at a building enveloped in darkness, before he heard the Overworlder next to him sigh again. He then felt a body press against the side of him. Not seeing this coming, Tom didn't move. His fingers began to twitch again as he felt the breath of Toborn venting on his neck. Toborn let out another chuckle before speaking into Tom's ear.

''Remember what I'm about to tell you. I'm your friend, though, I'll be honest, I see you as more. Never forget that. If you ever need me, I'll be there, Thomas. You having nothing to fear here in Perim. If you find yourself faced with death, I'll be there to save you from it. You can count on that,'' Toborn assured as he tightened his grip on Tom, ''I'd stay up later to talk with you, but I have important things to do tomorrow and sleep is very vital in my line of work.''

As if things couldn't be anymore confusing for the lost Tom, it did. He felt a cold, moist nose touch the side of his face as Toborn gave him a quick kiss before chuckling once more. The kiss sent a message through Tom's head that wasn't enough to make him awake, but made his eyes a bit widened out of surprise.

''Nighty night,'' Toborn told Tom before laying his head on the pillow and fell asleep literally second later; Tom heard his heavy snores as closed his own eyes and went back into dreamland.

''You, too,'' he mumbled faintly.

**x.x.x**

Tom shot out of bed from a nightmare he was having. He breathed heavily as he looked around the room and found himself back in Perim, away from the dream that he had gone through too many times to count at this point. He exhaled as got out of bed and walked for the window to look outside. He rubbed his eyes and felt something wet on his face. He used his finger to swab off a bit of the stuff and examined it. It appeared to be saliva.

''Slobber?'' he asked himself. As he tried to figure out why the drool was on his face, he heard sounds of someone thumping around on the first floor and looked at the ajar bedroom door.

''Hello?'' he shouted. Being the curious kid that he was, Tom went downstairs to see what was causing all the noise.

When he got to the bottom floor, he looked around to see that the front door had been left open. Unlike the bedroom door, it was wide open. With reluctance or fear, he rushed over to the door and looked outside. He peeked out the door and looked to the left to see no one there. He saw the same thing when he turned his head to the right. He backed away from the door as he shrugged his shoulders, thinking that it was just a late-for-work Tangath Toborn dashing off to help Maxxor and forgot to shut the door.

''Must have slept in,'' he told himself as he closed the door and began to search for a rag or a clothe of some kind to wipe the saliva on his face. When he thought of that, an idea hit him like a rock from space. He asked himself the idea as he swiped his finger across his face and looked down at the saliva and used his dry hand to pinch his shoulder as a number of thoughts raced through his head, none of which were recollection of what happened late last night.

''This couldn't be his... I have to be dreaming...oh, no,'' he feared.

''Oh, _yeah_!'' exclaimed the voice of a teenage male from not so far away.

**x.x.x**

Toborn slowed down in the middle of a narrow alley as he looked behind him to make sure that no one was following him. After realizing that he wasn't, the Overworlder leaned against a building wall as he placed his sword on top of a barrel. If there was one time that he hated his near-photographic memory, it was now. The second he woke up this morning, he felt something trapped in his arms and looked to see that it was Tom. The second he eyed him, the memories of last night plagued him. As he recalled what he said and did to the boy. For once, he felt the need to run away. He worried about what might become of his late night out. As he surfed through thoughts, he swore to himself that he'd pay a visit to Nebres's place when he had the time. After giving into peer pressure, following him to the darker parts of the city and coming out drunk and landing into this mess, he had a few things, and maybe even a few punches, to give him.

''What have I done?'' he asked himself as he placed his hand over his head and slid down the wall, ''I can't let anyone know about this accident or else I may lose everything. I doubt that Thomas will look at me the same way after this.''

As much as he wanted to make sure that what happened last night got out, he had to put it aside. For now, it was time to serve Kiru City. He grabbed his sword and glared at it as he sighed and began to lumber out of the alley and into the market district, worrying about what will happen next.

**x.x.x**

**Toborn, go home, you're drunk. Sorry, I just_ had_ to say that.**

**Any reviews that I may get for this three-day project are appreciated. Same thing with favorites and C2's. And what that out of the way, it looks like I'm done here. See you next time (hopefully).**

**XxX WrittenWithPencils XxX**


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